"Wings on Fire" by Katherine Abbott

There is quite an argument in favour of saying that we don't have sufficient opportunities to write about one of our area's most talented & original artists, Katherine Abbott.

Part of that is how busy she is & giving of her time to others: most notably her work with Street Arts Project and the spin off group of professional musicians involved, namely WLDFLWRS: I look forwards to reviewing their debut EP of original music in time for Christmas.

A second explanation is that she is a perfectionist: her songs have no ragged edges but achieve their blissful ambience through both inspiration & consequent honing. Katherine is one of those artists who not only nail the words & music but then transcend the sum of those parts with an additional level of creativity so that you can derive much just from the mood & overall effect of what you are listening to. No wonder "Lullaby for Lucas", one of her few previous singles (and it's featured on ‘Hot Music Live Presents Volume Nine ‘ also) is so highly rated: not least by other musicians. It's telling too that her rendition of "Coyote" by Joni Mitchell at the Street Arts "Last Waltz" charity concert also caught the ears of aficionados: not many people can pull off covers of that musician which also reflect the same "more than just words & tune" transcendence.

The third factor is that while rooted in and contributing to her local community, Katherine balances this out with a lot of travelling & playing around the country & the world. "Lullaby for Lucas" was famously inspired by a Spanish adventure and she returned and played only recently, followed by playing in Wales. I also reported on how I missed a planned gig as her journey back from Germany was delayed: and those are only a few instances I'm aware of in the past few months.

The most significant though for our purposes here was her recent US tour as it gave birth to her new single, "Wings on Fire" (sorry it took a while to work round to that): specifically on the Oregon leg of her trip & even more precisely in Lone Fir Cemetery, Portland's oldest such space. I'm pretty sure I've never written on  any songs composed either in Oregon nor a cemetery previously.

Though she accepts that there might be a perception that such a place to write might be seen as being  "..a little morbid, but I find cemeteries very peaceful and inspiring places and seek them out for sanctuary.." (the cemetery in question also functions as an arboretum).

In her own words: "It was the morning, and the sun was streaming through the trees. I sat down with my guitar almost in a trance, and the song just came out of me, like a crystal clear signal on a radio. Sometimes it can take me weeks, months, even years to finish a song, but in this case, I had the bare bones down that morning, and after putting pen to paper and focusing as hard as I could, the song was finished in its entirety by the night time."

This explanation certainly accounts for the wholly dreamlike & dream inducing vibe of the song (though this is a characteristic Katherine excels in and has demonstrated in songs presumably written elsewhere than graveyards). To return again to the mood & ambience, if you are looking to induce a state of mindfulness or destress, you can play "Wings on Fire" and it does the trick. I'd hate to think that anyone might use it to put someone else into a hypnotic trance, but it might also do that. It has sort of done that to me already, though I assume that I've emerged from that state: at least I hope so. This however by no means is a track in no contact with the ground: it posseses an enchanting melody which will stay in your mind long after hearing it.

I suppose the song is an Icarus themed one: meditating upon soaring so high in one's own blissful state of mind that danger enters the potential equation. It's all very thoughtful, philosophical stuff but that's what we expect from Katherine & I get the impression that she does a lot of deep thinking. Just when does detaching yourself from the baseness of "reality" cease to be inspirational & morphs into peril? That it comes out on Bonfire Night must be no coincidence.

Her instrumental playing (at least everything I've ever heard her play) accentuates the dreaminess and euphoria but nothing like as much as her vocals do: producer Joshua Woolf has aided & abetted her preference for the unearthly and in this case pretty spiritual. Certainly her voice is unmistakeable: it's a rare singer whom one can pick instantly regardless of knowing the song or not and what's also worth noting is how she utterly disproves the notion that quality of singing is somehow linked to the volume one can generate. Katherine says more at a low volume than many others who try & win plaudits for loudness of gimmicky acrobatics. She sings the truth: and given what she writes, a deep truth at that.

Quite apart from her WLDFLWRS songs (and there are some exciting live events featuring Katherine which you should look out for), I do gather that more releases are planned: certainly within a closer timeframe than the four years since her last. Katherine Abbott songs are exquisite gems, cut & polished to perfection. That degree of rarity of course enhances their value still further, but we could still use a few more without the currency declining.

Check out the delightful video too at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBACQmMpUns